Councillors have reluctantly approved cuts to council house rents from April.
And they have warned that the reduced costs will not benefit tenants.
Kirklees Council’s cabinet approved the 1% rent cut for social housing tenants, as demanded by the government.
The decision means £23m will be lost from Kirklees Council coffers.
Clr Cathy Scott said: “This will have a massive impact on our housing revenue account, which we use to maintain our houses.”
Councillors warned the minor rent cut – about 72p a week – will not be beneficial to residents as their benefits were set to be cut by the Chancellor.
Clr Viv Kendrick, said someone on £73.10 per week was set to have their housing benefit cut by 20%. She saidCop people aged under 25 would be hit by a bigger 25% cut.
“I’m very concerned for people on low incomes,” she said.
Clr Erin Hill said: “This is completely against what we’re trying to do helping vulnerable people. We know how important it is that people have somewhere decent to live.”
Clr Steve Hall warned a further 1% cut may come while Clr Graham Turner said the cut was already effectively 2% as they were banned from raising rents as they would have.
Council leader, Clr David Sheard, hit out at the “farcical” decision to announce an £81m cut to Kirklees Council’s income just two months before the 2016/17 budget decision was due.
“None of us expected a Christmas present,” he said, “but the nonsense of telling us what our spending would be in December was absolutely farcical.”
